Elon co-hosts statewide journalism workshop

Several Elon University faculty, staff and alumni led sessions and helped organize the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association’s fall regional high school journalism workshop held virtually on Oct. 15.

More than 150 high school students and advisers from across the state attended the workshop, which featured tracks dedicated to news/online, yearbook, literary magazine, photography/art/design, editorial leadership, adviser leadership and broadcasting/podcasting, along with opening panels on reporting during the time of COVID and how to cover the election. Elon co-sponsored the event along with Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina A&T State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. Central University, East Carolina University, the Raleigh News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer.

Colin Donohue ’05, School of Communications director of student engagement and alumni affairs, Tommy Kopetskie, communications manager in the School of Communications, and Kelly Furnas, lecturer of journalism, helped coordinate Elon’s contributions to the workshop by identifying an opening panelist and fully scheduling nine of the 21 sessions available to students. Here’s the full breakdown of Elon’s involvement in the workshop:

• Communications Dean Rochelle Ford offered a welcome at the start of the workshop.
• Ginette Archinal, Elon’s medical director of student health and university physician, served on the opening panel titled “Reporting in the Age of COVID.”
• Kelly Furnas, lecturer of journalism, presented “Rethinking Takedown Requests and the Right to be Forgotten.”
• Bryan Baker, School of Communications director of technology, operations and multimedia projects, presented “Creative Sound for Visual Media.”
• Olivia Allen-Price ’09, host and editor of KQED’s “Bay Curious” podcast in San Francisco, presented “Free Tools to Start Your Own Podcast.”
• Randy Piland, chair of the Communication Design Department and senior lecturer in communication design, presented “The Best Camera is the One You Have.”
• Shannon Zenner, assistant professor of communication design, presented “A Workshop in Creative Design Thinking.”
• Ben Hannam, associate professor of communication design, presented “Strategies for More Effective Design Thinking.”
• Drew Perry, associate professor of English, presented “Publishing Remotely in the Time of COVID.”
• Maya Eaglin ’19, digital reporter for NBC’s “Stay Tuned,” presented “Using Social Media to Report the News.”
• Jason Husser, associate professor of political science and policy studies and director of the Elon Poll, presented “How to Get the Most out of Election Polls.”
• Abby Igoe, School of Communications assistant director of multimedia projects, produced a video tour of the School of Communications for the workshop’s closing session.

NCSMA is a statewide organization that promotes excellence in scholastic journalism, promotes professional growth of journalism advisers and speaks for scholastic media in matters of curriculum and instruction. The organization, which is run out of UNC, typically hosts several events throughout the year, and this is the first year Elon has co-hosted a regional high school workshop with NCSMA.